Tattoo commission

A friend I hadn't talk to in a while called yesterday afternoon to ask advice on the design of his very first tattoo . I'm honored that he asked me to be his design consultant. I wonder if I can create a job out of this... A tattoo is a big deal. A first tattoo is even bigger. And a first tattoo on his forearm for all the world to see is the biggest, so I took the commission to heart.

He wants a West Virginia tattoo, he lives in a New England suburban environment and I know he misses his wild and wonderful. He also wanted to work the 'Country Roads' lyrics into it somehow.
So
Instead of selling tile today, I sketched, traced and scribbled my way to two variations of the same image. New River Gorge- get it? It's a country road, anyway:

Good, I like it. Easy enough to tattoo. I messed up the lyrics written across the bridge though, heh.

Based on this image:


Next Up:

Artistically, I like the angle of this one better. I hate the way the shading turned out. I despise colored pencils and that's all we had at work. But the tattoo artist could do much better.

Which is based on this image:




Mine, designed by me. I wish I still had the little piece of tracing paper. That I drew with my old interior design rendering markers, <3 it the best washy, but vibrant, medium ever. I'll post some old interior design work someday.

I would like to draw up a 3 style based on the old school WV licenses plates: